


Shadows At Your Doorstep

by CrawlCrawlCrawl



Series: Hollow Knight One-Shots I've Made [2]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:01:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28352091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrawlCrawlCrawl/pseuds/CrawlCrawlCrawl
Summary: The final moments of the lighthouse keeper.
Series: Hollow Knight One-Shots I've Made [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2106597
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20





	Shadows At Your Doorstep

Operating the lighthouse was lonely and miserable work. The Pale King had provided enough provisions to last a lifetime, but it hardly satisfied Alen. He had been stuck protecting the lighthouse for ages, and it was starting to have effects on his mental health. He could’ve sworn that strange figures appeared in the corners of his eyes, and he heard mysterious noises all the time. The time spent away from other bugs was clearly driving him mad, but he kept on persevering, after all, the king himself had given him this burden, and he certainly wasn’t going to disappoint. Even still, every so often he would find himself staring out of the lighthouse into the abyss, yearning for the days when he was back in Hallownest proper. Spending time with his family, exploring the farthest reaches of Greenpath, and his time as a royal retainer in the White Palace. Those were the days.

It was just another day? Night? He couldn’t tell. All he knew is that it was the continuation of the endless monotony of taking care of the lighthouse. He was absently staring into a corner of the room, attempting to silently entertain himself when another sudden noise shook him from his thoughts. A deep, sloshing rumble, one that shook him to his core and sent chills throughout his body. Assuming it to be another auditory hallucination, he tried to tune it out by thinking even harder about the voice of that lovely singer in the City of Tears. Marissa, her name was? He couldn’t necessarily recall. The noise endlessly persisted, and in spite of his attempts to ignore it, it continued to poke and prod at his consciousness, tormenting his already waning sanity. Eventually, it was just too much. Letting his curiosity get the better of him, he went to the window and looked out into the abyss, where it sounded like the noise was coming from. He pressed his face up against the glass to see a bit more clearly, and his eyes landed upon the sea of void. It had begun thrashing and convulsing, waves of the inky black substance crashing against the shores of stone, flowing over the dock and coating the metal. The chaotic storm that had taken over the endless void was only accentuated by the rumbling noise, which had only grown in intensity since Alen had first heard it. In spite of the harsh noise, it was quite the mesmerizing sight, the tar-like liquid ebbing and flowing, endlessly enveloping itself over and over again as it lashed out at every surface that contained it. The waves of void seemed to call to him, singing a mysterious song, tempting him into feeling empty fullness as he had never felt before. Like thousands of voices speaking all at once, overpowering all of his free thought. An endless family, free of the burden of the forsaken light building.

He was startled from his thoughts when a loud creak echoed out within the abyss. Looking closer, Alen saw that the port was creaking underneath the weight of a massive tendril of void pressing down on it. This tendril of void was slowly snaking its way along the port, making its way towards the lighthouse. The place where Alen was. With no way of escape without running directly into danger. Immediately stepping away from the window, Alen began to run around the room aimlessly in a blind panic. Thinking quickly, he began to push a large wardrobe in the way of the door to the lighthouse, all the while more creaking noises coming from below him. After having finished blocking the door, he dashed behind a nearby desk and cowered in fear. The creaking continued, getting closer and closer, the metal of the lighthouse bending underneath the tendril of void that crawled up its walls. The void had fully wrapped itself around the lighthouse, and it had now reached the door to the room. An uneasy silence had crept up, Alen continuing to cower underneath the desk. It was an agonizingly long time to sit there in fear, the silence stabbing into his nerves like the sharpest nail ever forged. He could almost feel his thorax caving in from the sheer terror of the situation and then suddenly the door was bashed down and-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alen was floating in a sea of darkness. He couldn’t feel anything, all of his senses were dulled, and he was having trouble focusing. It didn’t feel like he was in water, instead, it felt like he was wrapped in something living, breathing, _feeling_. He felt no unease, and yet he felt no calm. He only felt an emptiness that couldn’t be described with mere words. All of a sudden, thousands of sets of eyes appeared in all directions, staring deep into his soul.

Turn it off.

Turn it off? Cannot…

You must.

I won’t, I don’t want to.

You want to.

I don’t want to.

**You want to.**

…

Well?

My King. I’m sorry, the sea calls...

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to try something new with this one shot, hopefully it turned out well!
> 
> As always, constructive criticism and general feedback are highly appreciated!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed. :)


End file.
